My passion in life is to live free and to learn; thus, I approach life living in the moment and enjoying the ride. Not to say I don’t get caught up with goals from time to time as applying a strategy for our future is vital, yet I constantly strive to detach from any expectations as the future is unknown and being built by the present.
I have learned in my life through sport that it is very easy to get caught up on the goal. It wasn’t until recently that I developed sufficient enough wisdom to truly realize the destructive manner in which I approached sports which caused all types of injuries. Having to coach myself many times, I had to learn to temper this and find a balance through my training regimens lest I end up regularly damaged physically, mentally, emotionally and, deep down inside, spiritually. Once I came to terms with my destructive behavior I found the peace and calmness I was always searching for. I still have my ups and downs, as we all do, but instead of fighting the down portions of my life I search for understanding like a soul surfer experiences the troughs of waves - feeling for a way to get back up.
We have a new addition to the Run Holistic Family. Her name is Savannah. She is the pup of a rescued dog that was happened upon while the family was fleeing Hurricane Irma, finding her pregnant, sick and malnourished on the streets of Georgia. The mom was subsequently fed a diet of raw foods, which brought her health back in good order. Being the holistic family that we are, we decided to do the same as good nutrition is really the first pillar of good health.
Here is a little bit about Savannah:
I can eat!!
And sleep!!!
My curiosity is keen….
Until it’s time to take a nap…LOL
Playgrounds are now my second home….
I also love a good walk with my big brothers Kanoa and Kaden….
Or one with mom where I can stop and smell the flowers….
I love to hug…..
People love to meet and pet me….and I don’t mind being the center of attention. 😉
I am just a fun loving pup with a fun loving family ready to explore and experience life as only a dog could!!! 🙂
It’s no secret that I train hard. If you know me personally and have had the – for some unfortunate LOL – opportunity to train with me then you know that I put in work. I don’t shy away from a hard session and at times have over done it practically running myself into the ground. Now I do not advocate such an approach and have learned a lot through the process. What has helped me greatly in this respect is coMra-Therapy! It has allowed me to take those liberties since I was able to take care of any and all injury type issues including a few debilitating ones without the need for surgery or any pain medications, last of which have been shown to reduce the healing capability of the body. These past seven years with coMra have been a life changer! Now, the coMra Palm has been released making the future of home health care a present reality.
Whether it be pains and aches from sports or general life discomfort, the Palm will address the root cellular cause of those ailments in short order allowing you to once again enjoy your life at its highest level.
As soon as I feel something from training, whether it be in my knee, hip, ankle or muscular – or whatever hurts for that matter – I start treatment protocols that day (the beauty of having a home health device) and immediately I feel the improvements. Many times I’ve had issues/injuries that I trained right through using only coMra with full resolution.
Holistic health and wellness takes an integrative approach viewing the individual as a whole and treating them as such. The reductionist approach by separating parts not considering that the part being influenced can have an impact on other areas eventually affecting the whole, is an archaic model in need of change. With the Palm, you have the opportunity to take your health and wellness within your own hands!
If you don’t have one now or if you wait on buying one, I can guarantee you that you will be buying one in the future. 😉
Before MS Windows was created, personal computers were difficult to use making them not a normal part of every day life as DOS and the other operating systems of the time were not user friendly. Windows changed that and the personal computer boom took off! The coMra Palm is like the Windows of Low level laser technology with its ease of use, practicality and efficacy! This type of healing modality has been around for decades but was primarily reserved for scientists and medical professionals. No more will that be the case! For the low cost of $469, you can be confident that any pains and aches that come your way will be handled accordingly in the comfort of your own home.
This is a gift that will keep on giving. A gift to you and every one you love.
Here I go again. I have said in the past, never say never…. LOL In this case it refers to me leaving the middle distance discipline to pursue what I did as a youth athlete; namely, sprinting. However, life took me out of Miami and brought me to West Florida where I found a budding elite middle distance group taking form and a super talented coach.
Click on image to visit Arete Athletic International Club
Seeing this made me once again consider moving up to the 800m. I have nothing but respect for these types of runners as they can sprint fast AND hit the pavement, or trails, for miles on end. I believe my main problem before with this distance was primarily having to train myself, in effect running into the ground through over training. Now having a coach to guide me and to ensure I don’t over do it has allowed me to enjoy the training and distance, gradually increasing fitness over time.
Who knows what the future holds, but feeling is a good indicator of what is right or wrong. This move up again feels right and I believe a good place considering my athletic abilities. I am looking forward to this track season…I will update accordingly. 😉
Have fun, be You and love your Self in all ways… 🙂
As I am now searching for speedy feet, I’ve decided to race some 200 meter sprints to assist with that process. Below is my first 200m race in over 21 years; my time was 23.34 (video quality is poor considering the conditions, etc.).
I am in the outside lane:
I know I can run faster. First off, there was a 20 mph headwind as I was working the curve and when I started to round the bend into the straightaway a young girl happened to be in my lane which broke my focus as I needed to consider what to do.
My take away from this race are two things in particular. One, I need more block work thus a quicker start, and two, my fitness has room to improve as evident from my last 100m (maybe the distraction had something to do with it but I do know that my training has been sporadic without consistency). Nonetheless, learning from my races further improves my ability to discover myself through the medium of Track and Field.
I had a quick start to the track season, 2017, running a 60m and 300m last Saturday the 18th of February. Here are my races below:
I don’t work blocks at all. The last time I came out of the blocks was last year’s Moore Park Relays (now known as the Jesse Holt Invitational – RIP Coach Holt, your impact on the Miami community, and beyond, will be felt for ages). And before that was a year prior messing around during practice with some friends. Truthfully, my main experience with blocks occurred between the ages of 11-14 as a youth sprinter growing up in Miami. This being said, I am content with my 60m 7.40 time and know there is plenty of room for improvement.
The 300m is another story. I should have ran a lot better than 37.05 as I run this in practice easily. Unfortunately, as I entered the bend and attempted a higher gear, my right hamstring knotted up causing me to tone the speed down and hold on to pace. Even so, I completely tied up on the home stretch losing my balance with 40m or so to go. At first I was upset with the way all of it went down, but after the race the fire in my hammy led me to believe part of my breakdown was due to the hamstrings dysfunction (i.e. a grade 1 strain). That night I couldn’t even use my right leg properly! As soon as I got home I proceeded to do coMra treatments every 2 hours to hasten the healing process. Took Sunday off, easy run Monday, easy run and 10 strides Tuesday, Wednesday a couple of 500s to test – hammy was still speaking to me even at 1:26 500 pace – Thursday off and Friday 6 300s with not a whisper from my hammy as I started with a 48 pace and worked down to 44. Very happy with my healing time and further testament to coMra’s efficacy. I visited the gym Monday, Tuesday and Friday, upper body, leg work and Olympic lifts/hip mobility, respectively.
Yesterday, Saturday, and today are both recovery days. Of course Chen Family Taijiquan barefoot on grass everyday, usually twice per day or more. 😉
Yesterday I decided upon doing a 400M time trial on a recovery week. I don’t think this is the proper way to approach training but I really wanted to see where I was at after my first training micro-cycle of the season. I managed a 49.8! This is my first time under 50 in the 26 on and off years I’ve been running track – I turn 36 in May. Got to admit that the body didn’t feel 100% recovered from the last 3 weeks of training (e.g. 3 days a week I doubled at the gym). So, feeling hopeful for the season.
Truthfully, it is very difficult attaining this type of conditioning with a full time job as a parent of 2 young boys and a full time job as an entrepreneur hunting for ways to build the business of holistic health and wellness. It is where I am at, so I must work with it and build the mental fortitude necessary for a successful life that requires lots of strength and resiliency.
That’s it for now. Just wanted to update everyone as I progress towards faster times. Have a wonderful 2017; by the way, this is an impeccability year. That means to pay attention to the moment, taste your water smell the air, etc. I believe in you all as I believe in myself. 🙂
Today Diana and I ran the UPS & United Way 5K in lovely Coral Gables. It was a fun experience. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about racing a 5K again. For me, anything over 500m is quite grueling and utilizes another aspect of training discipline: mental fortitude. Not to say that sprinters don’t have to contend with that, but something about the grit from distance, putting your head down and sucking it up, makes me highly respect distance running for competition.
The race went well! Came in 3rd overall and first in my age group at a time of 18:42. Diana dropped her time from 28 in May to 25 today. An incredible 3 minutes off of her previous pr!!! Since now we get our naturally sourced nutrition from Isagenix, there are so many ways to utilise their products, especially the performance solutions, that will optimize our physical outputs. Key words are: adaptogens, undenatured whey protein concentrate from pasture raised ‘Happy Cows’, and cleanse days. We’ve been feeling so lean and fit lately no wonder we can go from a sprinting base and adapt with minimal training to perform well in a 5K. Not to mention, we had a booth there promoting Isa solutions and offering amped hydrate drinks. A complete sports recovery drink that has nothing artificial and tastes great. Every single person who tried it gave raving reviews! 🙂
As you can see in the picture above, we are wearing the earthrunner minimalist grounding sandals. Had them on before warming up for the race and put them on as soon as we finished. What a tremendous way to get antioxidants passively.
Being a holistic athlete is a lifestyle approach to search and discover new sustainable and self-sufficient ways that create a high quality life, healthy and capable. Enjoy everyone and much love. See you next time!! 🙂
I am a holistic athlete looking for ways to optimize my performance naturally and what you put in your body is the fuel that determines how well you will perform in any given sport. Now for me, I didn’t mind spending money as long as I obtained quality products.
Click image for more info…
My wife and I were partaking in a ‘Fit Kids Day’ event that was hosted at a park adjacent to our home. There were many vendors so I took the opportunity to connect with each and every one of them. I came around to a couple of ladies who were marketing a sports drink.
Apropos, they have whey protein concentrate from pasture raised grassfed cows. Isagenix sources their dairy from New Zealand ‘Happy Cows’ which are loved and respected.
Their whey protein meal replacement is a daily go to for our family.
Click image for more info…
They also have a one-of-a-kind nutrient rich herbal tonic infused with natural vitamins, minerals and plant-based adaptogens called the Ionix Supreme. A must have!
All of Isagenix products are available to view online with ingredient lists and all.
Click image for more info…
Let’s change the world one person at a time, starting with our self. 🙂
Here I am considering what I have been doing all along in my various training programs throughout my life. There is so much to say and to share, I’m not really sure on where to start. I’ll just start from the present and see where this takes me. Basically, I feel like I am having an evolution of awareness in terms of my understanding when it comes to performance development in the discipline of athletics. You see, track and field is a very specific, primarily individual, sport that requires much self-discipline and a completely refined physical structure. Basically, if one thing goes wrong, in regards to an injury of sorts in the majority of cases, then the athlete will find it difficult to train and compete. The frequency of this happening is high; thus, making it hard for track and field runners from generating enough financial support to fuel their world-class talent and skill. So much can go wrong and the marketability costs versus the potential rewards isn’t enough for major across the board sponsorship opportunities.
It’s hard to express exactly what I am feeling at this very moment. I’ll do my best to elucidate this feeling in the hopes that it will create an understanding of where track and field, with its myriad of scandals and problems, is at nowadays and a potential way to fix it. By fix it, at this point, I’m going to only touch base on some issues that are dear to my heart. For instance, focusing solely on fast times and distance. Below I am going to share a video off my YouTube page that describes a little bit about what I am starting to change in my own personal training regimen:
As you can see, it’s aptly named, “Running for the thrill of it”. Granted, elite world class athletes aren’t necessarily expected to change their training programs as many of these are tried and proven methods to success. However, what I am pointing to is a deeper understanding of why train in the first place and the present prevalent mental model of time/distance with its laser focus burning away any true enjoyment and contentment many runners dearly need. Look at it this way, there are soul surfers who, even if they compete, find total enjoyment in the waves and are still enjoying themselves when they can’t even get a wave on a flat day. For me this is reflected in running when the time/distance mentality gets overbearing and becomes an obsession. And to be frank, it’s most likely because the pros make money and need these times to win races and to get paid. But herein lies the conundrum. You have a system that is built off of this incessant need to refine the body to produce faster times from which a successful season means more income, but this very same approach increases the chance of injury which in turn makes the marketability of various non 1% athletes (e.g. Not the Usain Bolts, Mo Farahs) less desirable even though they are practically 1% of the world population.
Now, what am I getting at? For me, track and field needs to be more about entertainment than fast FAST times. The other day Nick Symmonds posted on twitter this tweet. What if track and field were 2-3 hour events with high level competition in a venue that was fun and an atmosphere of pure entertainment focusing on winning not total output of speed. In other words, while not disparaging the effort to break and make world records, these events could be properly marketed for maximum brand exposure and maximum financial support for elite athletes. The point is, as beings living on this planet let us not lose sight of what’s important by getting lost in numbers. It’s best said this way, “life is a journey to be enjoyed, not a problem to be solved in haste”.
This brings me to another video I recently shared on YouTube:
As of right now, I see the comprehensive training I am being taught at Fast Twitch South Miami as integral to an athlete’s success. I’m sure I am the newbie here as I’ve relied heavily on my Chen Family Taijiquan training alone in terms of physical health, but I still feel the need to share in case there are others who are unaware of such vital strength and conditioning training. Three key words I’ve heard there that best describes the methodology: Stability, mobility and prehab. Oh, and don’t think for one minute that it’s not hard, on the contrary, besides the strength and conditioning norm, their specificity can take a simple looking movement and make it dastardly hard (i.e. you question if you’re brave enough to continue LOL!).
With all of the above in mind, I think the salient point that keeps coming up for me is the process of trusting life and living life through the understanding that our future is not guaranteed and if we keep focusing and obsessing on that big race or that big goal then we miss so much of the good stuff that is passing us by. Moreover, because of this approach I really do believe that the present marketability of runners is a consequence of this attitude and the only way to change that is to change our perception as we are co-creators of reality with the ability to shape and influence life. Do we want to create a life full of joy and contentment or a life of grim determination? The choice is ours and then the outside world will reflect back for us what we have chosen. Pretty simple if you ask me! 🙂
This is a late race report from an 800m I did at the University of Miami back in the middle of March. I would have preferred to race the 400m at this meeting but as I was coming off a small groin strain I figured it would be prudent to do an 8 instead. To be honest, in this race I had no inner drive to excel. This is because my focus had shifted to sprinting once I realised that my heart sings more when I engage in my fast twitch movements. Nonetheless, I wanted to share this video:
As of writing this, I am being challenged with what seems like peroneal tendonitis. Happened two weeks ago during practice when I was running 350s at 100%. Before doing the third 350 I felt a noticeable weakness in my left ankle. Not heeding the physical warning, I proceeded to push past the dysfunction and further damaged the area. Two weeks in to the injury, I am still dealing with pain and dysfunction. Now, to be fair, I have trained throughout and even did some 350s and 100s on respective days. Not the smartest idea, but I was successful in finishing the workouts even though I’m quite certain this has prolonged the injury. Yesterday I was supposed to run a 400m and here I finally exercised caution and scratched. Today it feels better! 🙂
I did my usual assortment of treatments: coMra-Therapy, grounding while doing taiji and yesterday I added ice after my strength and conditioning coach mentioned I should include this. Great idea!!!! My tendon feels better already with the alternating treatments from coMra to ice and taiji for the reopening of the area via silk reeling movements.
Intending for full healing this week and then a strong week of training followed by a competitive 400M race on the 2nd of May.
while the family was fleeing Hurricane Irma, finding her pregnant, sick and malnourished on the streets of Georgia. The mom was subsequently fed a diet of raw foods, which brought her health back in good order. Being the holistic family that we are, we decided to do the same as good nutrition is really the first pillar of good health.
My curiosity is keen….
Until it’s time to take a nap…LOL
Playgrounds are now my second home….
Or one with mom where I can stop and smell the flowers….
